DNA profiles of 92 banana and plantain cultivars were generated with 12 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primer pairs. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) values of the polymorphic AFLP markers varied from 0.270 to 0.341, and the profiles could distinguish all the 92 cultivars analysed. It was possible to identify differences between two accessions of the AAB genome cultivar Rasthali, indicating the presence of intra-cultivar genetic variation. A UPGMA (unweighted pair group method of arithmetical means) dendrogram generated with 1581 AFLP products identified four major clusters, each comprising cultivars of similar genomic constitution. All the ABB cultivars grouped in a single cluster, which was well separated from the rest. The within-group similarity coefficients indicated that the most diverse group was AAB, followed by AAA. However, significant genetic diversity was also present among AA, AB and ABB Indian banana cultivars, supporting the notion that India, along with other neighbouring south-eastern Asian countries, is the centre of diversity for cultivars of banana and plantain. The presence of substantial diversity among the banana and plantain landrace cultivars could be exploited in varietal improvement programmes.

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Rice false smut disease, an emerging threat to rice cultivation worldwide due to its detrimental effects on both grain yield and quality. The study was conducted on characterization of rice false smut fungus viz., U. virens Tirupati isolate in the year 2020-21. It has white coloured fluffy, compact and leathery mycelium with slight undulations and orange or yellowish chlamydospores. The U.virens Tirupati isolate was molecular characterized by sequencing ITS amplicon of 439 bp (GenBank accession number ON987217.1). The phylogenetic analysis revealed that U. virens Tirupati isolate was different from other strains such as MAFF 240994, strain iJS62, strain UV-8b, strain P1, Ustilaginoidea usambarensis and it formed a separate cluster with Ustilaginoidea virens sy1.